“The Russian revolution has reached a
turning-point," said Tsereteli informing the Congress of Soviets
that the
offensive[1]
had begun. Yes, the whole course of the
world war as well as the Russian revolution has reached a
turning-point. After three months of vacillation the Russian
Government has actually come to the decision demanded by the
“Allied” governments.

The offensive has been declared in the name of peace. And It is
also “in the name of peace” that the imperialists of
the world send their troops into battle. Every time there is an
offensive the generals in every belligerent country try to raise
their troops’ morale by holding out the real hope of that
particular offensive leading to early peace.

The Russian “socialist” Ministers have garnished
this common imperialist method with very high-sounding phrases
in which words about socialism, democracy, and revolution sound
like rattles in the hands of a clever juggler. But no
high-sounding phrases can conceal the fact that the
revolutionary armies of Russia have been sent into battle in the
name
of the imperialist designs of Britain, France, Italy, Japan, and
America. No arguments from Chernov, once a
Zimmerwaldist[2]
and
now Lloyd George’s partner, can conceal the fact that while the
Russian Army and the Russian proletariat do not really pursue
any annexationist aims, this does not in the least change the
imperialist, predatory nature of the struggle between the two
world trusts.
Until the secret treaties binding Russia to the
imperialists of other countries are revised, and as long as
Ribot, Lloyd
George and Sonnino, Russia’s allies, continue to talk about the
annexationist aims of their foreign policy, the offensive of
the Russian troops will continue to serve the imperialists.

Tsereteli and Chernov object, however, that they have repeatedly
declared their renunciation of all annexations. So much the
worse, we reply. That means your actions do not accord with your
words, for your actions serve both Russian and foreign
imperialism. And when you begin to co-operate actively with the
imperialist “Allies” you render splendid service to
the Russian counter-revolution. The joy of all the Black
Hundreds and all counter-revolutionaries over the decisive turn
in your policy is the best evidence of that. Yes, the Russian
revolution has come to a turning-point. Through its
“socialist” Ministers, the Russian Government has
done something which the imperialist Ministers, Guchkov and
Milyukov, could not do. It has put the Russian Army at the
disposal of the general staffs and the diplomats who act in the
name and on the basis of unabrogated secret treaties, in the
name of designs frankly proclaimed by Ribot and Lloyd
George. The government could only fulfil its task, however,
because the army trusted and followed it. The army marched to
death because it believed it was making sacrifices for freedom,
the revolution and early peace.

But the army did so because it is only a part of the people, who
at this stage of the revolution are following the
Socialist-Revolutionary and the Menshevik parties. This general
and
basic fact, the trust of the majority in the petty-bourgeois
policy of the Mensheviks and the Socialist-Revolutionaries
which is dependent on the capitalists, determines our Party’s
stand and conduct.

We shall keep up our efforts to expose government policy,
resolutely warning the workers and soldiers, as in the past,
against pinning their hopes on unco-ordinated and disorganised
actions.

It is a question of a phase in the people’s revolution. The
Tseretelis and Chernovs, having become dependent on imperialism,
are putting into effect a phase of petty-bourgeois
illusions
and petty-bourgeois phrases, which serve to disguise the same
old cynical imperialism.

This phase must be brought to an end. Let us help to end it as
speedily and as painlessly as possible. This will rid the people
of the last petty-bourgeois illusions and bring about
the transfer of power to the revolutionary class.

Notes

[1]This refers to the offensive launched by the Provisional Government
in June 1917, at the instance of the Russian and Anglo-French
imperialists. Kerensky, the War Minister, ordered the offensive
on June 16 (29). On June 18 (July 1) the Russian troops took the
offensive on the South-Western Front. The operation was successful
at first and the Russians made headway, taking several thousand
prisoners. Later on fatigue, the troops’ incomprehension of the
purpose of the offensive, and inadequate technical preparation
resulted in the German troops effecting a break-through and forcing
the Russian troops into a disorderly retreat. The Russian Army
sustained a crushing defeat, losing about 60,000 men and officers
in ten days.

The miscarriage of the offensive defeated the entire policy of
the Provisional Government and the S.R. and Menshevik defencist
bloc backing it. The defeat at the front made for an increase in
Bolshevik influence on the workers and soldiers, who satisfied
themselves more and more that the Bolsheviks were right. The
news of the enormous casualties which the offensive had involved
angered the working people and hastened a now political crisis
in the country.

[2]TheZimmerwaldists were members of the group formed at the first
conference of internationalists held in Zimmerwald from
September 5 to 8, 1915.

During the conference a struggle developed between the
revolutionary internationalists led by Lenin and the Kautskyite majority.
Lenin formed of the Left internationalists the Zimmerwald Left
group in which the Bolshevik Party was the only one to take
a correct and consistently internationalist stand against the war.

The conference adopted a manifesto describing the world war
as an imperialist war. It condemned the conduct of those “socialists”
who voted for war credits and were members of bourgeois cabinets.
It called on the workers of Europe to begin fighting against the
war, for peace without annexations and indemnities. The conference
also passed a resolution expressing sympathy with the war victims,
and elected the International Socialist Committee.